Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition

Well we all kind of knew it was going to happen. With the growth of ever increasingly powerful gaming computers and components and the explosive popularity of FF15, Square Enix announced, today, the 2018 release of Final Fantasy 15 for the Windows platform. This has me SUPER excited, since I started the game a while back, but have yet to finish it only for the fact that my son keeps the PS4 upstairs in his bedroom and, since we are often playing FF14 together I don’t get to put my grubby mitts on it very often. At least with this I can purchase and play the game on my laptop! I don’t think I will get a 4k experience, but the game looks great at 1080.

Admittedly, SE has put a lot of work into this game, with two side-story expansions completed (Episodes Gladio and Prompto), at least two major updates and a multiplayer mode that is in beta testing right now. Along with a couple of games on mobile platforms, the FFXV Universe is forming.

If you want to know how I felt about the game you can read my two reviews here and here, with the first being more of a ‘first impression’, while the second is a bit more in-depth.

Cronus Lux: Completed

So according to EVERYONE, though the sword I was officially asked to make was Cronus Lux, this one should simply be called ‘Cronus’, since the ‘Lux’ version in the game has an ominous purple aura around it. Since mine doesn’t glow, everyone says I should just call it ‘Cronus’. WHATEVER! Its done, and its pretty cool

As always, thanks to ma boy for modelling it for me (he’s kind of tall, so you get an idea of the size of this thing).

Vital info: 5’6″ long, 9″ at its widest, made of 3/4″ poplar, spray painted glossy black and covered in clear coat, the runes are made of vinyl that I cut on my Silhouette machine (oh man do I need a larger model!), handle wrapped in 550 paracord.

It weighs a lot less than it probably looks, but poplar isn’t too dense. As always its might fun to swing around!

Final Fantasy Friday XXI: Meet the Mandervilles

This F3 we are going to take a look at one of the oddest and funniest sets of characters to come out of the Final Fantasy universe: The Mandervilles.

The FF universe is full of oddball characters, from moogles to lecherous cephalopods. Like any good story, Final Fantasy games have their own special brand of comic relief to help lighten the sometimes somber tone. Add to this the fact that the humor hails from Japanese culture and we end up with the truly, truly odd. Remember, this is the same country that thinks the funniest thing a guy can do is dress in women’s clothing and has odd gameshows that include one that forces men to recite a tongue twister within a certain amount of time or they get whacked in their testicles with a bat (look it up on YouTube, its there, honest)!

DISSIDIA NT! 2018!

YES!

You all know how much I love my Dissidia Final Fantasy, and my heart has been wracked by the fact that Japanese arcades have had the incredible looking arcade version of the latest Dissidia for well over a year now, with no hopes of the machine making it’s way to the states (though I’m sure someone around here has one). Along with most of the main characters from the numbered series (I, II, III, etc.) the latest entry into the Dissidia series also showcases playable characters from the lesser known, un-numbered games Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy Type-0.

 

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SE had confirmed a PS4 release and, well:

 

This looks great, and information indicates that its not a simple arcade port, but contains both the arcade game and a storyline mode similar to the original game! Along with that they are maintaining the leveling aspect that will allow you to fight, gain experience and level up your characters, after which you can customize their move set and equipment! I will be pre-ordering this TODAY, and probably playing a lot of Dissidia 012 on my emulator until it comes out.

You can always check my stream page to see if I am streaming any games, including Dissidia 012, at:

http://www.mixer.com/snappertrx

(Microsoft changed the Beam site to Mixer, but its the same site.)

Curtana, Complete!

With the addition of the blue ‘gems’ on the hilt this relic weapon is complete! It took long enough, but it was fun to do. I WILL make another later, but it will be much later, as I now have three commissions! Finally get to earn a little dough while doing something I enjoy!

You can find more information on my wooden weapon builds and stuff on my Facebook page (see the sidebar).

Week in Review (April 16-22)

A lot of travel last week for work, but it was all good as it gave me some extra hours on my time card! Got to listen to some Greg Laurie and Captain Capitalism during the hours on the road (talk about polar opposites, but both are good listening). Had some rain at one job site that left everything drenched and muddy. The dirt out on some of the job sites is super, super fine, almost like baby powder. When it gets wet it sticks to the bottom of your boots like dough, sometimes an inch thick! Since your out in the middle of nowhere there isn’t really a way to get it off, either.

Mini Super NES – Super Y-E-S!

I was going to post this as a comment to the Well-Red Mage’s post on the rumors of a SNES Classic Edition out by Christmas time, but it’s not really a comment so much as a trip down memory lane for me.

I wasn’t able to get one of the mini NES classics, and personally I doubt I’ll buy a mini SNES classic, though the prospect thrills me. My first “real” job was at the Longs drug store near my home where my mother worked. It was through this job that I was able to purchase a brand new Super Nintendo Entertainment System, or, fondly, the SNES.

Now you can have your PS4’s and your Xbox One’s, and even your PS3’s, 2’s and 1’s. None of them – NONE OF THEM, hold a candle to the SNES. Sure, they are graphically leaps and bounds beyond the SNES, but it doesn’t matter. There comes a point and time in a game when you don’t care about graphics anymore. I mean, sure, you may see something and ‘ooo’ or ‘ahh’ for a moment, but it is soon forgotten as you concentrate more on GAME PLAY! Poor game play makes fancy graphics moot! The SNES had both excellent graphics (for it’s time and even by todays standards in a time of ‘throwback’ games that rely on 8 and 16 bit pixel sprites) AND excellent gameplay, in spades!

I won’t go into details about the hardware, which was sexy as hell with that sleek grey body and rich, purple, sliding power and reset buttons. Or the controller that was PERFECTLY fit to the hand and paved the way for multi-button controllers for the rest of human history. Or how there were ZERO LOAD TIMES ON GAME CARTS! That’s right, youngsters! Back in those days when you slid that power button forward (with a satisfying -snap!-) you were seeing intro screen within five seconds and, if you so desired, in the game within ten. No fifteen minute load screens or “here play this mini-game while waiting for the game you actually bought and paid for to load into memory”.